I'm sure I'm just missing something obvious, but where can you buy healing potions? The game decided to take away my only character with healing magic and I just used my last 3 potions, I'm a bit stuck at the moment. TIA

I could have sworn I saw them at regular merchants. of course there is also the potion making deal too.

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Because I can,also because I don't care what you want.XBL: OriginalCeeKayWii U: CeeKay

I'm sure I'm just missing something obvious, but where can you buy healing potions? The game decided to take away my only character with healing magic and I just used my last 3 potions, I'm a bit stuck at the moment. TIA

I could have sworn I saw them at regular merchants. of course there is also the potion making deal too.

I've bought all the potions from the merchants I've found (they apparently don't replenish their stock, even after 3 years ), and I don't seem to have found the crafting recipe for healing potions.

I'm sure I'm just missing something obvious, but where can you buy healing potions? The game decided to take away my only character with healing magic and I just used my last 3 potions, I'm a bit stuck at the moment. TIA

I could have sworn I saw them at regular merchants. of course there is also the potion making deal too.

I've bought all the potions from the merchants I've found (they apparently don't replenish their stock, even after 3 years ), and I don't seem to have found the crafting recipe for healing potions.

AFAIK, there is no recipe for regular healing potions and their stock is indeed limited. You should just make tons of the better ones you do (hopefully) have the recipes for.

Finally pushed through and beat DA2 tonight. It was a decent enough game, I suppose, but easily the weakest Bioware title I've played. This was the least interesting cast they've ever put together, and while the story had some fantastic bits, they were sandwiched between long stretches of 'meh'. Act I was dreadful, Act II was very good, and Act III was pretty dull up until the fantastic finish. Presentation-wise, I couldn't help but feel the entire thing was very rushed. Reused environments, extremely sparse and barren.areas, reoccuring character models, etc.

I'm glad I played through it, but it's certainly not one I'm ever going to go back to. I'd give it a B- overall grade.

EDIT: One of my biggest annoyances, storywise:

Spoiler for Hiden:

I really wanted to kill Anders after he blew up the Chantry, but since the designers decided that he was going to be the only character with any sort of healing ability, I felt like i had to take him with me. That really bugged me, and left a rather sour taste towards the end.

Have it all with this combined collection of arms, armor and accessories for you and your followers.

Mage Pack: Receive relics and mementos of untold power for use by your Mage and Mage followers. Features 3 follower items, player weapon and armor sets. [more details] Rogue Pack: Gear up with new equipment for your Rogue and unique items for Rogue followers. Features 3 follower items (including Sebastian), player weapons and armor sets. [more details] Warrior Pack: Lay waste to your enemies with this collection of arms, armor and accessories for your Warrior and Warrior followers. Features 3 follower items, player weapons and armor sets. [more details]

BALANCENOTE: Patch 1.03 introduces significant changes to the overall balance of the game, improving the strategic elements and making combat and class progression more engaging and enjoyable for players. Here is a detailed summary of the balance-related improvements:

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Because I can,also because I don't care what you want.XBL: OriginalCeeKayWii U: CeeKay

Targeted by a vicious criminal cartel that are hunting "the blood of the Hawke," you must put an end to their relentless attacks. Leave Kirkwall, and journey to an ancient Grey Warden prison in order to find the source of the aggression and uncover the harsh truth about the Hawke lineage. Playable from any point in the DAII campaign, face all new darkspawn, forge a powerful new weapon and come face to face with an ancient horror.

Features:

-Uncover the harsh truth about the Hawke lineage-Adventure through several new locations including a prison constructed by the Grey Wardens-Obtain a powerful class-specific weapon to which you can apply upgrades of your choice

Did anyone else pickup the DLC this week? I DLed it last night, but haven't had the chance to play it yet. I wasn't going to get it, but I already had 400 EA points in my account, so I pulled the trigger.

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" And they are a strong and frightening force, impervious to, and immunized against, the feeble lance of mere reason." Isaac Asimov

I played through the DLC today. It takes about 3 hours. I know the guy at gamespot gave it a 5.5 and I completely disagree with him. The DLC story is self contained and it transports you to a desert prison setting. The story is solid, and it deals with Hawk's Mother and Father, as well as the Grey Wardens. It also has a final boss fight that is way better than the one in DA2. The only downside is that it only takes 3 hours to beat and at $10 for the DLC that's short. But I don't regret buying it.

On a side note I didn't run into any of the sound bugs or attack bugs the gamespot reviewer dogged the DLC for.

« Last Edit: July 30, 2011, 07:55:08 PM by Scraper »

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" And they are a strong and frightening force, impervious to, and immunized against, the feeble lance of mere reason." Isaac Asimov

You can play it at any time before or after the main story ends, but you do need access to Hawk's mansion to enter the DLC. I played it after the main story so my characters were pretty powerful, I imagine the DLC scales to level.

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" And they are a strong and frightening force, impervious to, and immunized against, the feeble lance of mere reason." Isaac Asimov

Bioware likes to use DLC as testbeds for that they plan in sequels, or later DLC. Not sure new game features, but rather different ways they design missions.

I recall seeing some talk from the designers that they planned to try new ways of balancing out the encounters in the DLC, as opposed to DAII's waves and waves of unending creatures appearing from nowhere.

Most of the enemies were fairly easy, I dont know if this is because all my toons were above lvl 20 or not. The last boss was kind of challenging. Mostly though it was clear a room, move on to the next, not a whole lot of enemies zoning in during the fight, they were usually all present to start with.

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" And they are a strong and frightening force, impervious to, and immunized against, the feeble lance of mere reason." Isaac Asimov

Another DLC has been announced - Mark of The Assassin. It features the voice and likeness of Felicia Day as the elvin assassin Tallis and appears to be similar to the Kasumi DLC from Mass Effect 2. The DLC is also supposed to shed more light on the Orlesians and Qunari, presumably in preparation for DA3.

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"Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? To get to the same side." - The Big Bang Theory

I never *really* had a chance to play Throne of Bhall, so it doesn't count when I say that Dragon Age II may be the first Bioware game I refuse to finish. It's been weeks since I started it up. I'm probably near the end too, though I'm basing that estimate on the character levels because contemplating the "story" "arc" threatens to put me to sleep.

Hawke is the most aggressively disagreeable protagonist I've played in recent memory. She's certainly the worst person in the game. Her self-entitlement and selfishness is baked into the plot, congealed and crusted over so the only choices I get to make are whether or not she's doing awful things out of prideful condescension, detached cynicism, or unwarranted nastiness. It's tough to get personally invested in these characters when my avatar in the world treats them all like something she'd scrape off the bottom of her shoe.

Why is Anders in this game? More specifically, why would Bioware bother lifting a someone from Awakening if they intended to betray his established personality? What's the point? As hard as they try to lampshade it by stuffing in a subplot about his personal demons, they could simply have chosen to give him a different name and focus their retconning efforts on better original writing.

I'm not sure how the story could possibly be less engaging. Remember Ferelden, the nation they spent two novels and 100+ hours of game play exploring? What about all the other exotic locales that sounded like they were brimming with adventure like Orlais, Antiva, or Tevinter? Well, bad news, because instead of going to any of those places, Dragon Age II is set in a remote, thoroughly unremarkable city-state of about a dozen people looking for their Family Heirlooms and upwards of five merchants ready to purchase bundles of Stained Pants. Instead of the Korcari Wilds, the Blackmarsh, or the Frostback Mountains, Kirkwall is adjacent to such memorable locations as That Cellar With The Spiderwebs, The Little Mountain Pass Where About Seven Elves Are, and That Other Cellar With The Spiderwebs Except One Door Has Been Bricked Up And Another Is Now Unlocked.

Whatever problems I had with Mass Effect 2's sense of pacing, at least it maintained interest in the outcome. Dragon Age II has done such an efficient job of inspiring distaste my character and boredom with the handful of backdrops she tramps through, I don't even know what a climax to this story would look like. Hawke's team of patsies finally wise up and beat her to death? Kirkwall is sunk into the earth by the Locusts? Pam from the TV series Dallas wakes up and realizes it was all a dream?

Hell, I probably will finish the game, if only to ensure I'll never have to slog through it again. It'll be something I can click at during commercials or something.

Wow. I'm wondering if Bioware has lost the magic, or if EA is breathing down their necks, forcing them to serve up mediocrity. For me, the only misfire they ever had was Neverwinter Nights. Dragon Age II sounds like it may follow that legacy.

Wow. I'm wondering if Bioware has lost the magic, or if EA is breathing down their necks, forcing them to serve up mediocrity. For me, the only misfire they ever had was Neverwinter Nights. Dragon Age II sounds like it may follow that legacy.

This. DA2 was made the way it was because while DA sold reasonably well, it took so long to make that it was probably marginally profitable at best when all was said and done. So a quick and dirty sequel that uses a small environment (saving money on art) was the best way to make more money.

The real question is what happens next, but adding multi-player to ME3 isn't a good sign IMHO.

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Roger: And you should know, I have no genitals.Syndey: That's alright. I have both.

Yeah, Bioware is balancing on a knife's edge right now. They've got more than a decade of goodwill from their fans, but if they continue in the direction indicated by Dragon Age 2, it's all going to spill away. They've gone from being the masters of RPGs to becoming increasingly marginalized in a genre with some amazingly talented studios. Games like The Witcher 2, Deus Ex Human Revolutions and Fallout: New Vegas have moved the bar. Bioware is trying to catch up and win by pleasing everyone, which means, as in the old cliché, that they end up pleasing nobody.

DA:2 was different. But not bad. Other than the re-used environments I enjoyed everything about the game.

My Hawke was nothing like the Hawke described above. He was a good guy, loved by all, who helped make the town a better place while securing a place for himself.Of course Anders kinda screwed that up but so be it.

And as for the story...so it wasn't the epic save the world stuff, I still thought what they did with the town, with Hawke and with his "friends" was very interesting. The interaction between Hawke and his friends was excellent and even though there were some twists and turns that I could have lived without (damn why Bethany) and (Isabella disappears never to be seen again) they are a part of what real life is about.

No, I will not buy the DLC, because I don't do that but also because a couple hours aren't worth the money to me.

What I've learned thus far with Mark of the Assassin? Level 8 is WAY too early to be attempting it. Figured I'd give it a try before the Deep Roads. Yeah, not a good idea. Enemies may scale but if you don't have magic resistance or dispel magic or other tricks, you're not going to succeed in 1 fight in particular. And Tallis has an ability called cloak which gives her 100% magical resistance for a short time... it doesn't work.

Mark of the Assassin is a very good expansion, if you like Felicia Day. She essentially plays herself and it's a little difficult to believe that she's part of the Qun and some dangerous assassin because she's also very whimsical and flirty and, well, Felicia Day. There is a lot of humor in this expansion, which is good, but they go a bit overboard and it gets a little too goofy at times. There's new banter and conversations with all the party members, so that's good.

One fight is stupid hard with insta-kill spells. You have to hit the guy with a huge hit like an assassinate in literally less than 1 second after the fight begins or you die (there are other ways of fighting, but I've got a rogue and I'm stuck with Tallis who's a rogue as well, so I didn't have many class abilities available to me). It's one of the first fights too. As I said before, I really recommend waiting until after you get back from the Deep Roads before doing it. Doesn't really make sense otherwise anyways, as Tallis invites you to this scheme because you're a noble who has an invitation to an Orlesian hunt and party.

The expansion took me a good couple-few hours, so I feel I got my $10 worth out of it.

I never *really* had a chance to play Throne of Bhall, so it doesn't count when I say that Dragon Age II may be the first Bioware game I refuse to finish. It's been weeks since I started it up. I'm probably near the end too, though I'm basing that estimate on the character levels because contemplating the "story" "arc" threatens to put me to sleep.

Hawke is the most aggressively disagreeable protagonist I've played in recent memory. She's certainly the worst person in the game. Her self-entitlement and selfishness is baked into the plot, congealed and crusted over so the only choices I get to make are whether or not she's doing awful things out of prideful condescension, detached cynicism, or unwarranted nastiness. It's tough to get personally invested in these characters when my avatar in the world treats them all like something she'd scrape off the bottom of her shoe.

Quote from: Autistic Angel on October 23, 2011, 05:42:31 PM

Hell, I probably will finish the game, if only to ensure I'll never have to slog through it again. It'll be something I can click at during commercials or something.

Nope: uninstalled. Didn't load it once after posting that, and after realizing that Dragon Age II was less preferable than playing nothing, I've finally given it the axe.

I could handle the sausage-fingered combat, broken economy, and even the repeating pressboard environments if the story were any good. Hell, I've played Mass Effect through on three separate occasions. The problem here is that the plot is actually the worst part of the experience. The writers and I seriously part ways early on when

Spoiler for Hiden:

the quest into the Deep Roads concludes with Hawke getting rich and moving into a mansion while every single party member who helped her out continues living in squalor.

You want to argue that Varric and Isabela gambled away their share, fine. Anders spent his share on the poor? Okay. Aveline, Merrill, and Fenris all...I don't know...lost their cut in the Orlesian stock exchange? Whatever.

Except it's all supposition. It's never explained. As far the game is concerned, everybody risks their lives on a suicidal treasure hunt so that Hawke alone could get rich. She wins social status, a big hollow mansion, and a couple manservants she treats like dirt while all her supposed friends have gone back to their hovels without a syllable of protest.

It could have been a meaningful story choice. Seize the loot for yourself for big cash prize, distribute it evenly for an influence boost, or just share it with the active members for a little of both. DA2 gives you *none* of those. No matter what kind of character you want to play, you are forced by decree of the writers to act like a shithead towards everyone you're supposed to care about.

Things go downhill from there. The whole crew reunites for more adventure as though your character didn't cheat every last one of them out of a life-changing windfall. Intended political intrigue is so reliant on your character's undeserved social standing that it falls completely flat. There are even a couple directed attempts to force some degree of sympathy for Hawke by piling on some more maudlin tragedy, but since no element of the game's engine, voice work, or writing talent is up to the task, the characters' apparent indifference easily becomes your own.

Dragon Age II is easily the worst game in Bioware's stable. I recommend against it.